


Bestiary - Arc One - Church Grim

by zitface



Series: Bestiary [1]
Category: The Real Ghostbusters
Genre: Gen, but im trying to keep it as close as possible here, quasi-AU, some things work differently from the cartoon for ease of writing purposes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 07:41:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zitface/pseuds/zitface
Summary: Manhattan has always been a hotspot for spiritual activity, and for this reason the Ghostbusters were founded and worked their way into a respected group of authorities for spiritual activity. However, the constant surge of ghost cases has become an efflux while an influx of non-ghostly, physical supernatural monsters, animals, and beings have been rising for the first time since the ROUS Infestations of 1958.With nobody else in the area having any knowledge on handling these situations, the Ghostbusters are forced to hire an intern to help them stay afloat as they are forced to play animal control and try and figure out why the few ghosts appearing are so distressed and why the beasties are so dead set on storming into the spotlight.Bestiary is a multi-chapter work that will span multiple arcs.





	Bestiary - Arc One - Church Grim

_“Ray, are you sure this is such a good idea? I don’t see any errors or mistakes, but,” Egon said skeptically, a hand on his chin, poring over the ad Ray had put together and submitted to the team for final review before it went live. “I know all of us have been severely overwhelmed, Janine especially dealing with the calls this uptake in paranormal animal control cases has caused, but even if this does bring in people, I doubt they’d be the right kind of people to have around our equipment, let alone our persons.”_

_“Egon’s got a point, Ray. Only a sadomasochist would sign up for this gig, especially without a paycheck!” Peter chimed in, slinging his arms over Egon and Ray’s shoulders, prompting Egon to grunt and shrug Venkman’s arm off with slight distaste._

_“Peter, you were complaining the loudest about being overworked on this crazy monster surge, don’t be so quick to shut the man down,” Winston said, hustling the man out of the way of the computer to read the ad again. “I’d say it’s ready to be put up, Ray. We all agree?”_

_“Lemme take a look, considering I haven’t gotten a chance on account of you all evicting me from my own desk,” Janine said, leaning steeply over the eight collective shoulders huddled around her screen. She scanned it for a few moments, muttering the words to herself under her breath. “It looks pretty good, all things considered. I’d say she’s ready for posting. Here’s hoping someone helpful responds, I could use the, well, help.”_

_“You’re right there, Janine, we all could,” Ray nodded and looked at everyone else, and with a nod from everyone else and an impatient look from Janine, he turned to Winston and said, “Put her up! I’m sure this’ll make things easier around here, it’ll be worth it.”_

_“It’s done, then,” Winston said and with a flourish, he posted it and turned to Janine. “Now you can have your desk back, Janine.”_

* * *

 

       Maddox stood outside of the now almost iconic firehouse, and he snorted at the thought that the housing for what could be considered a paid service could ever be seen as an icon, or at the least so incredibly recognizable. For what it was worth though, despite the building’s history of being ravaged by the supernatural, it looked much better than Maddox did. He looked just awful, like something the cat spat up in hell and succinctly drug through every circle it could, and purgatory to boot. Formerly lengthy and teased hair was furiously matted,had twigs poking out the clumps and branches tangled throughout the blanched green thickets. His face was bruised in places, one eye a moth’s kiss away from being on its way to swelling shut, and split where it wasn’t. It was bleeding in both places, particularly from a nasty scrape along his jawline. Having traveled a long way, however, Maddox wasn’t currently concerned with his state of disrepair. Even if he wanted to polish himself, he couldn’t. He didn’t have a bathroom, or a home in general, here.

       Maddox shook his head to clear his head and stepped over the curb, up in front of the massive doors, and searched for some form of bell before giving up and opting to just pound on the doors with a fist that was shaking from anxiety. He preened as many branches out of his hair as he could in the time between his knocking and one of the doors opening, and jumped at Janine’s equally shocked face. The receptionist quickly tensed up and shot her hand into the handbag dangling from her shoulder by a thin strap as the image of the man in front of her fully registered. Maddox, remembering instantly his formidable size and stature, threw his hands up in front of his face and forced a tense smile, wincing as it resplit a cut in his lip, and cried hoarsely, “God, don’t, hold on! I’m here for the internship! The internship!”

       Janine’s expression went blank for a minute as she scanned Maddox’s for any hint that he was joking, but the tension that tightened her frame relieved itself by a slight degree. Her tone was indignant, but she obliged him. “You’re almost too late, you know. I’ll send you in, but you better be more careful around here. You almost got maced, punk! Give me a moment. **_Guys, we got another one!_ ** ”

       Maddox flinched at the receptionist’s abrupt yell over her shoulder, and red in the face, stepped through the threshold and stood where he was instructed. He and Janine looked at each other awkwardly, Janine’s gaze flitting over the two long, ragged parallel scars that crossed his throat, then opted not to make small talk as they waited for the ghostbusters to get down to the desk area. As always, it happened instantly and cacophonously. Ray was the first down, then Egon, then Winston, and last was Peter, with only enough space in between to keep them from piling up like socks on the borders of a laundry pile. Maddox eyed them with a measured combination of wariness and excitement and looked over his shoulder at Janine, who shrugged at him and waved him forward.

 

       As the group walked towards the area that counted as a “lobby”, Maddox met them halfway and crossed his arms awkwardly, waiting for one of his possible employers to make the first move. There was a period of silence as the five men stood there, looking amongst themselves before Peter rolled his eyes and said with a smirk in his voice and on his face, “Janine, why’d you even bother letting this one in? Mint chip here looks even worse than most of the crazies we’ve gotten asking to be a part of the team!”

       An assortment of glares made Peter rethink his comment and he stuttered as he realized it sounded harsher than he meant. He ran his hands through his hair and shrugged sheepishly, looking off at the floor. “I’m so sorry, I was just trying to lighten the tension. It was a nasty thing to say, I was only tryin’ to be funny.”

       Maddox stiffened indignantly at the jab and his burning orange eyes flared with anger that he suppressed as the group cowed Peter. He waved his hands in front of himself in a “no harm, no foul” gesture and said, “I’m aware I look very, very bad right now, so I understand, but I assure you, it’s only because I walked here from Ohio. Walked. I mean, underneath all these burrs... and the dirt... you can clearly see I even wore formal dress for the occasion. Although, I guess I should have worn something more casual and changed when I arrived…. I’m babbling, very sorry! Maddox Ivar Karloff, no relation. As it is, I’m here to apply for the internship.”

       At the end of his spiel, Maddox wiped a palm off on the hip of his slacks and thrust it out for a handshake, a weak smile on his face. The inside of his head was filled with the cacophony of his brain screaming “you fucked up, you fucked up” on repeat, but it paused and quieted when Ray returned the handshake with gusto. “I’m Dr. Raymond Stantz, pleasure to meet you. I’m sure I can convince the guys to interview you, given the circumstances you laid out for us, but in the meantime, I think you should probably shower, no offense.”

       “I absolutely agree, Dr. Stantz, thank you for being so cordial. If you’d be so kind as to offer a shower, I would greatly appreciate it. But, uh, before I go, here’s my resume,” Maddox said, pulling a folded and, surprisingly, mostly clean stack of paper from a pocket in his slacks. He paused briefly to shove his wallet back into the pocket before it was dragged out by the resume, then turned back to face Ray with the paper held out. “Even if you don’t take me on as an intern, I appreciate your hospitality.”

       “I agree, Ray, and it is our pleasure, Maddox. Even if we do end up turning you away, it’d be extremely impolite to make you proceed home in your current condition. Slimer will show you the way to the restroom,” Egon said, folding his arms and nodding, gesturing off in the direction of the ceiling with a finger.

 

       “The what will show me to the restroom?” Maddox said, tugging a twig out of his hair. As if on cue, though probably due to the act of Venkman pulling a candy bar out of his pocket and obnoxiously crinkling the plastic wrapper down before waving it in the air, a green ghost shot through the ceiling of the first floor with an overt squelching noise. Babbling loudly, it darted for Venkman and gobbled up the snack, messily kissing him on the face as Egon whistled for its attention. “ **_Christ on a bike_** , what is that?!”

       “That, Maddox, is Slimer, he’s the resident ghost,” Ray said casually with a broad smile, gesturing a hand at the now excited, gabbling creature floating near Venkman as he furiously tried to scrub the slime off of his face. Maddox wasn’t fond of the eerily human face with uncannily massive teeth on its pudgy green body, but he noted that the creature was friendly enough. “Slimer’s sort of the mascot slash pet around here, though we initially only kept him because Egon thought he’d be useful to run tests on.”

       “Yes, Slimer here is essentially harmless, so you needn’t worry about him. Slimer, lead our guest to the restroom, will you?” Egon said, uncrossing his arms and waving a hand in Maddox’s direction. The ghost babbled excitedly and swooped over to Maddox and grabbed the reluctant man’s hand and tugged him towards the stairs. Maddox quickened his step to not trip from the ghost’s haste and shot up the stairs with renewed vigor, primarily to get the goop off of his hands. Egon watched him go, and turned back to the other men. “He seems worse for wear, but he led with the word “intern”, not ghostbuster. That’s significantly more promising than the other candidates, though the dyed hair is a little off putting, considering he felt it appropriate to wear interview clothing but not opt for natural color for the occasion.”

       “You’re really one to talk on offputting hair decisions, Egon, baby. Anyway, you got a point, but if he really came from Ohio, then he doesn’t have a job and he doesn’t have a house. He probably expects us to pay him and we can barely afford to fund ourselves, let alone his feral behind. ” Peter said, arms crossed and eyes closed. He peeked one eye open to glance at the resume as Ray unfolded it and read under his breath. “So what’s he got on him, anyway?”

       “I’m going to disregard that comment,” Egon said, furrowing his brows at Peter. “Anyway, you’d know if you were bothering to read the resume with us instead of pacing around like a dog before an earthquake.”

       “Surprisingly enough, Peter, this kid’s pretty solid on an education level. He listed his academic achievements here. Briefly, but it’s here. He went to a STEM high school, and took a year at a community college with a pretty decent STEM course, too, but he didn’t finish,” Winston said, reading over Ray’s shoulder. “Jobwise he doesn’t really have anything related our line of work, even in engineering or physics. All of what’s listed looks like mostly janitorial, culinary, and retail work.”

       “He notes here that he’ll be job hunting as soon as he can, though,” Egon said as he took the papers from Ray. He ran his fingers across the page, and skimmed through the others. “As an intern, it’s not as if he’ll be doing any fieldwork or major containment, and the culinary perks are definitely tempting. That’s a good restaurant right here. He’s certainly more qualified than most of the others, though the credentials of one or two of the others are generally better than Maddox’s in specification.”

       “Yeah, but remember what you said, Egon? He led with “intern”, not “ghostbuster”- the ones you’re talking about led with ‘ghostbuster’,” Janine said, gesturing broadly. She shrugged and shook her head. “I’m just saying, he’ll be enough for now, and he seems eager enough to learn. If a dog can learn a trick, after all. He does look like a stray one, a little.”

       “If we keep him on for a while, he might pick up some containment related tasks and skills and really lighten the workload,” Winston said, taking the papers from Egon and Ray and holding them so he and Janine could skim them together. “I understand he looks crazy as hell, but the way his resume reads, he seems pretty capable of the basic intern work, and that’s what we need. Less time for us making dinner and cleaning and sorting filework and more time busting without worrying that we’re gonna come back to a mess and chaos.”

       “I guess he could be good to have around. Maybe I can convince him to keep that slimy spud away from me,” Peter said, tapping his chin. He looked over at Egon and Ray. “Janine and Winston have me convinced. Does he have your vote?”

 

       “Come on Egon, you know you’d appreciate having someone to help you when you’re working on new gear and technology. He’s a sharp kid, you can tell,” Ray said, tapping the resume with the backs of his fingers. “Teach him a few things if he doesn’t know them and he’d be immensely useful around the firehouse and in the workshop. That way the rest of us can spread ourselves thinner without actually spreading the team thinner!”

       At this point, Peter looked at Egon and Winstons’ critical expressions, shrugged and threw his hands up. “I’ve put my opinion out there, and I’ve got prior arrangements. I’m all for Mint Chip lightening the load, and even if he’s a failure, he’ll still be helpful either way before we send him back.”

       “Yeah, that’s why we keep you around. If you got somewhere to be, then be,” Janine said dryly with a mild smile on her face, waving Peter off as he snorted and slipped out of his jumpsuit. He was dressed ready for whatever arrangement he had, probably an ill-fated date, and threw the suit on Janine’s desk as he moseyed off into the night. She snorted and her tone took on a friendly, teasing quality as she picked up Venkman’s suit and quipped as she went to go hang it up, “Explains why he was pacing around this whole time, the putz.”

       “Anyway…. Maddox has a passion for learning, you can tell by how hard he’s pushed himself, Egon. He walked on foot from Ohio to New York. That’s commitment,” Ray said, turning back to Egon as a pleading tone began to edge its way into his voice. “Besides, we all need the help and having fresh blood around here would be nice. Nobody else has stuck around past the “you’re not going to be part of the field team” disclaimer, but look at this resume. He came in acting like he spent some time thinking realistically about this.”

 

       “Now hold on, hold on just a second, Ray, you gotta think logically about this. Egon makes a convincing point. We all got a little excited about having someone who seems rational come in for once, yeah, and we all got a little blinded and started rooting for this kid when he started getting all bashful and awkward, and obviously we got a little too endeared,” Winston said, putting a hand on Ray’s shoulder.

       “That’s true,” Janine intoned from her desk, having returned to sit listlessly as the guys stood around like idiots. “He’s probably got a cute face and a can-do spirit once he gets cleaned up, but that can only take a man so far. A test run might work, but his record is pretty telling.”

       “You do have a point Ray, but he came in looking like a mountain hermit. Maddox just comes off as quite impulsive. However, you are correct in that we all could use an extra set of hands,” Egon said, levelling his gaze with each member of the group. He pursed his lips and huffed once, then nodded and folded the papers back up as he crossed his arms. He paused for a moment, reaching a hand up to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose while he thought.

       “Winston’s probably right in that he enamored us as an oddity upon arrival, however, I don’t necessarily think that should discount him, even with everything taken into account. I suppose I’m on board for it, but if it doesn’t work out, he’s going to have to go back home.”

       “So a test run?” Ray asked, cocking a brow tentatively, careful not to rush into getting his hopes up. Egon nodded definitively and clapped Ray on the shoulder, eliciting an excited whoop and clap. “We’ve got ourselves an intern!”

* * *

 

       Around this time in the great debate, Maddox had gotten finished showering and drying, the entire affair having taken longer than necessary due to Slimer’s enthusiasm in meeting Maddox. Maddox assumed that in the spud’s eyes, he was a done deal, and he certainly hoped Slimer was right. As it were, however, he definitely did not appreciate being slimed thoroughly. However, upon exiting the shower, he found himself stark naked in a, thankfully, empty room with the only serviceable article of clothing being his underwear. His “interview” clothes were all either stiff with sweat, mud, blood, or god knows what else, or torn damn near to bits. Maddox paused, ready to yell down for help, before he realized it would probably suit him better to put his underwear on first. He slipped into his skivvies and pounded on the wall and called Slimer’s name, thankfully summoning the ghost fairly quickly.

       Babbling with excitement, the ghost slimed through the wall and did a few laps around Maddox before the man finally got him to calm down. Maddox figured that he could keep the spud focused the same way he did cats back home, and kept an open hand close to his own face and tapped in between his eyebrows with the other to attract Slimer’s eye contact. “Okay, blob, I need you to go downstairs and...somehow...communicate that I have no clothes. I need to borrow some. Can you do that?”

 

       One manic nod and babble from Slimer later, the green streak shot down through the floor and sent his own hardly intelligible version of Maddox’s message to Ray, tugging on the sleeve of his jumpsuit. Ray nodded and hummed and hawed as he heard Slimer out, and then slapped a hand to his face as he suddenly understood the point the blathering ghost was making. He turned back to the group and waved Slimer off. “Oh. Oh my. Umm...do any of you have some spare clothes for Maddox to borrow until he gets on his feet? I should have noticed earlier that his aren’t serviceable anymore, but too late now.”

       “I don’t think mine or Peter’s will fit… Peter’s too short, and I’m a little less….beefy,” Winston intoned, gesturing around his biceps to indicate a more muscular frame than his. He looked over to the other two men, then at Janice and chuckled. “I bet you don’t have anything you’d want to share, right?”

       “Sorry, but I’m clean out of one size fits all sundresses,” Janine replied, a wry smirk on her face and a nail file at work in her hand. She paused and pointed it in the group’s direction. “What about you, Ray?”

       “Sorry, Janine, just too short. He’s a tall guy, and even if it won’t be too tight, it’ll probably come up short,” Ray said, shrugging. There was a moment of silence before Ray snapped his fingers and abruptly shattered it. “He’s almost as tall as you, Egon! He’s not as skinny, and he’s pretty muscular, like Winston said, but I think you’d be his best bet. Some pants, at least? Coveralls?”

       “The fit might be strange for him, but I do think I have some older clothes that I bought that were a little baggy on me, actually,” Egon said, putting a finger to his cheek and looking off contemplatively. “Not by much at all, just enough that they won’t split when he flexes. But he will have to abstain from gymnastics. I doubt he’d enjoy the colors either, but I don’t think fashion is any concern of any of ours at this point. If it is a bother, I have a spare jumpsuit, but we’d have to rip the nametag off.”

       “I don’t see why you can’t just let people think he’s your brother,” Janine remarked as she put her nail file down. She paused, then picked it up and put it in a drawer in the desk, shifting her eyes towards Slimer, who was actively looking to nab the file for some reason. “It’d be easier than explaining the whole story.”

       “Yes, but then I’d have to explain why anyone related to me would be so… brutalized,” Egon replied, tsking teasingly. He slapped his hands onto his thighs and nodded. “I’ll go get those clothes and bring them up, then. We’ve wasted enough time as is and I’d like to get Maddox settled in as quickly and smoothly as possible.”

 

       The others nodded and meandered off back to whatever it was they were doing before, with Winston in the direction of Ecto-1 and Ray towards the upstairs with Egon, where they branched off as Ray went towards the workshop and Egon to retrieve the soon to be hand-me-downs. He dug through his drawers for the clothes, and found them near the bottom after a brief struggle. Unsurprisingly, they were just about the cleanest and nicely pressed things in the drawer, having been worn only once or twice.

       Another salmon pink button up shirt and tan slacks, typical wardrobe for Egon and certainly nothing he minded losing. Not bothering to refold them, he slung the clothing over his shoulder and trotted towards the bathroom, firmly knocking on arrival. “Uh, Maddox? I’m going to leave some clothes on the floor outside the door-”

       The door swung open a few inches and an arm shot out, palm politely up to receive the clothes. The sudden opening caused Egon to stumble over his words and stop, and he put the pile in Maddox’s hand. Fearing seeming rude, Maddox tried to quip casually, “Thanks, I owe you one.”

       “It’s uh… really no problem. I am sorry if they don’t fit well, I’m just the closest match,” Egon responded, feeling rather awkward as the door shut again. It wasn’t often that a scientist and a ghostbuster like himself often had to deal with inherently uncomfortable situations such as this one. “In stature and size, I mean.”

       “It’s perfectly fine, where I’m from we take what we can get and we don’t complain if it gets the job done,” Maddox said, leaning his back on the door as he slid into the slacks. They were a bit pinchy in places, as the were designed for a less muscular man, but they fit him well enough. He paused to take a breather after that fight against the pants. He smiled despite the awkward situation, excited that the entire ordeal didn’t completely explode in his face and waste his efforts. “Hey… Dr. Spengler? Thanks. I heard the conversation down there. Bits of it. Thanks for letting me stay here, even despite my failings. I won’t be forgetting that. I owe you two.”

       “Thank you, Maddox. I’m… firmly of the belief that anyone can improve and be a valuable member of a team if they put themselves to it and the team helps support those efforts productively. I believe you’re going to be fine here. Welcome to the Ghostbusters.”

       “Glad to be a part of it. Thanks,” Maddox said, buttoning the shirt up. He heard Egon walk away and he nodded to himself, breaking in the newish shirt. It was uncomfortably snug in places, but he noted it did it’s job. He brushed out his damp hair with his hands as much as he could and flashed himself an insincere winner’s smile before he turned to the door and walked out. His anxieties weren’t completely gone, but he definitely accomplished his goal.

       He snorted at the phrasing Egon used, almost definitely consolatory, and it made Maddox want to laugh, but he wasn’t upset about it. If they wanted to call him a ghostbuster to make him feel better about being an intern, he was going to let them even if they didn’t have to. Maddox decided now that all that was done, he directed himself towards the cornerstone intern task, and he pounded a fist into his palm in determination.

 

       “Yeah, welcome to the Ghostbusters, my ass. Let’s find that coffee pot.”

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a while in the making, and for what it's worth, I need to warn that it will probably be a long while before Ch.1 Proper comes out. It's a lot of effort for someone like me, and Bestiary is an ambitious project, so hopefully what's given here will be enough to convince you to work with me on this!  
> -Aldous


End file.
